Friday, June 19, 2009

Because of the chronic and severe injustices that are sometimes brought upon mothers and their children through custody litigatiion when they attempt to leave abusive fathers, there is an urgent need for family court reform. Many projects across the country are working actively to demand these changes, including STOP Family Violence, the Center for Judicial Excellence, the California Protective Parents Association, the Battered Mothers Custody Conference, and several others.

To contribute to these efforts in a new way, mothers who themselves have faced mistreatment in court, and who now want to be activists and advocates to create a fair and accountable child custody system, have joined with me to form the Protective Mothers Alliance (PMA). The second edition of the PMA newsletter, called The Guardian of Truth is now available. The newsletter, which is produced entirely by mothers, is inspiring, articulate, and informative. I hope you will take a few minutes to click on the link and read the newsletter. You can also read the previous issue.

More information about the Protective Mothers Alliance is available at my website, LundyBancroft.com, including our mission statement and principles, with an explanation of how you can start a group in your area and how to reach us. PMA is open to protective mothers and their allies. We have specific projects for children who were harmed by the actions of family courts when they were growing up, called "Hear Us Now," and for men who want to be active for justice for protective mothers, called "Fathers and Step-Fathers for Protective Parenting".

Mothers themselves will be the key leading force in bringing about safety for women and children post-separation, and in changing the way family courts handle child custody disputes involving abusers. PMA looks forward to your support. Contributions can be made out to "California Protective Parents Association" (our fiscal sponsor) with "Protective Mothers Alliance" written on the memo line, and sent to CPPA, P.O. Box 15284, Sacramento, CA 95815-0284.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Sometimes heroes are treated as villains. That's what is happening now across the continent to mothers who attempt to protect their children from violent and abusive fathers. These protective mothers are attempting to do the right thing; To make their children's safety the top priority; to teach them that intimidation, violation, and degradation are wrong; and to stand up for their own rights as loving, responsible mothers.

And they do so courageously. They are often dealing with men who have pounded them with their fists, or locked them in rooms, or raped them, or threatened to kill them. Yet these women are brave enough to take the risks involved in seeking freedom for themselves and their children.

Even those protective mothers who have not faced severe physical intimidation need courage, because courthouses are scary places, and family law judges have tremendous power that is rarely curtailed by legislatures or appeals courts. The adversarial system used in courts is the worst possible atmosphere for a traumatized woman, but it is the perfect system for an abusive man; the qualities that most succeed here are aggressiveness, skillful dishonest, and strong self-confidence (or even arrogance), along with the ability and willingness to spend huge amounts of money in order to win. It is difficult for abused woman to defeat her ex-partner in a court system that is designed (though not intentionally) to play to his strengths.

What's more, certain lawyers and court-appointed evaluators have developed theories to discredit protective mothers and their children when they report that they are being harmed by an abusive man. It has become the norm for children of battered women to be forced into extensive unsupervised contact with their battering fathers, or even to be sent into his custody.

We all need to recognize, and admire, the bravery, the survival skills, and the deep concern for her children that an abused woman has to have in order to go up against the abuser in court, month after month and year after year. These women deserve our support, admiration, advocacy, and activism to help them keep their children safe, and to change the gender-biased and sometimes corrupt legal system that is abandoning them and their kids.